A new hotel in Madrid takes the boutique designer concept to cavalier extremes.We're all familiar with what happens when boutique hotel Boutique hotel is a term originating in North America to describe intimate, usually luxurious or quirky hotel environments. Boutique hotels differentiate themselves from larger chain/branded hotels and motels by providing personalized level accommodation and services / facilities. entrepreneur meets megalomaniac meg·a·lo·ma·ni·a n. 1. A psychopathological condition characterized by delusional fantasies of wealth, power, or omnipotence. 2. An obsession with grandiose or extravagant things or actions. designer, but why stick with one tired signature architect when you can have 12 different ones all vying for your attention? In what has to be one of the most obscenely lavish hotel design projects ever undertaken outside the Gulf, Hotel Puerta America, which has just opened on the edge of Madrid, boasts the involvement of 12 superstar architects. Each was given a separate floor to design and free creative reign was, somewhat astonishingly a·ston·ish tr.v. as·ton·ished, as·ton·ish·ing, as·ton·ish·es To fill with sudden wonder or amazement. See Synonyms at surprise. , matched with a blank cheque blank cheque Noun 1. a signed cheque on which the amount payable has not been specified 2. complete freedom of action Noun 1. . Another six were engaged to design the hotel's communal areas such as the foyer, restaurant and car park. The cost of the enterprise, masterminded by Spanish chain Grupo Silken silk·en adj. 1. Made of silk. 2. Resembling silk in texture or appearance; smooth and lustrous. See Synonyms at sleek. 3. Delicately pleasing or caressing in effect: a silken voice. , has yet to be properly calculated, but around [euro]75 million is thought to be in the ball park. From Zaha Hadid's impossibly fluid rooms with no corners, to Norman Foster's havens of perfectionist per·fec·tion·ism n. 1. A propensity for being displeased with anything that is not perfect or does not meet extremely high standards. 2. serenity; from David Chipperfield's Zen-like visions of relaxation to Ron Arad's eclectic mixing of moods and materials, Puerta America is the ultimate in deluxe set dressing, bringing the gossamer wing world of superstar architecture to the modern, discerning traveller in one convenient package. In theory, you could stay in a totally different, obsessively conceived 'environment' each night, for nearly two weeks, but that might just drive you crazy. Here we look at who did what and sample some of the interiors. C.S. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] |
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